The Catalyst

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When a Medicare Part D beneficiary adheres to their prescription regimen, both the individual and the broader health care system benefit. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), for example, now estimates increasing the number of Part D prescriptions filled by just 1 percent reduces program spending on medical services by approximately 0.20 percent. The cost savings are even greater for seniors with certain chronic conditions. Today, we’re looking at congestive heart failure.

In recent years, the development of new medicines has helped transform the lives of patients. But lives cannot be improved without access to those innovative treatments. We support helping patients get access to what they need to live happier, healthier lives, and it was our focus this week.

Did you know health insurance exchange plans are allowed to drop coverage of medications from their formularies midyear? Early evidence indicates that some health insurance exchange or marketplace plans are taking advantage of this flexibility and significantly reducing access to needed medications.

Today is World Cancer Day, and 2015’s “Not beyond us” theme highlights an incredibly important message: we’re making tremendous advances in the fight against cancer and continued progress means a future with a cure could be right around the corner. America’s biopharmaceutical research companies are dedicated to achieving this outcome and improving the quality of patients’ lives through pioneering medicines and enabling access to those treatments.

Medicare Part D is an incredibly important and successful program that provides seniors and persons with disabilities with access to affordable prescription drug coverage. While recent surveys indicating about 90 percent of beneficiaries are satisfied with their Part D coverage, you may not know about all the ways Medicare provides value to beneficiaries.

For the biopharmaceutical industry, patient well-being is at the center of everything we do. In keeping patients at the forefront, we are doing all that we can to help people live longer, healthier lives. This week, we highlighted just a few ways we are working to translate that commitment into tangible outcomes.

Many people likely don’t realize that the human papillomavirus, or HPV, is one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted diseases in the United States. This means 79 million Americans, both men and women, currently carry the virus, which in some cases can lead to cervical cancer.

While the Affordable Care Act (ACA) expanded access to health insurance coverage for millions, a new study from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health reveals that insurers may be discriminating against patients through the drug benefit design of Essential Health Benefit plans.

As someone who grew up around the biopharmaceutical industry and knows firsthand the impact that it has on local communities, I’m frequently reminded of our members’ far-reaching impact in my role as liaison between PhRMA and the Pharmaceutical Industry Labor-Management Association.

Although we are not even a month into 2015, the U.S. trade agenda has already taken center stage and this coming week will prove to be no different. Less than 24 hours after returning from his trip to India with President Obama to further advance our trading relationship there, United States Trade Representative Michael Froman testified before both the U.S.

Now that 2015 is underway, it’s time to put our guiding principles into action. Our goal is to build on successes from 2014 to help patients live long, healthy lives. This week we started to put those plans into motion. We hope you’ll take an active interest in what we’re working on this year and share your thoughts with us.